Laura Tanna
Think of Kolkata and immediately The Black Hole of Calcutta comes to mind.
Those who have heard only of Mother Teresa and her work with the homeless and poverty-stricken of Calcutta may assume the phrase refers to the entire city as an insalubrious environment filled with beggars. Definitely not on a tourist's list of places to visit in India. Yet one would be wrong to avoid this city in West Bengal, renamed Kolkata in 2001 after the Bengali pronunciation.
Yes, there are illegal immigrants slipping across the border from Bangladesh in search of the greater prosperity Kolkata offers and these stretch the social services of an already overburdened municipality of 13 million, but the wealth of history and architecture which Kolkata enjoys more than makes up for its appearance, shabby in part because rent control gives landlords no incentive to paint. Where period buildings have been refurbished, the ironwork and architecture are stunning.
Excellent flight
The two-hour-plus flight on Sahara Air from Delhi is excellent. On arrival, I see an orange disk through a smog-ridden sky, an image which feels strangely familiar until I remember Claude Monet's painting which gave its name to the Impressionist movement. After our luggage arrives promptly, the half-hour drive into Kolkata reveals tracts of flat land, billboards announcing the development of Internet technology sites.
Travel tip
Thanks to a friend's travel tip, we've changed our hotel reservation from the more distant Taj Bengal to the Oberoi Grand Hotel right in central Kolkata, across from the Maidan, a 988-acre park where rallies take place, football is played and the annual book fair used to be held, until environmentalists complained that parking there tore up the grass. Of course parking there for cricket at Eden Gardens is still allowed. After all cricket is cricket! We really didn't know what to expect of Kolkata, precisely the reason we chose to learn about this world-famous city at first hand.
The Indian Museum, the country's largest and oldest, introduces one to the ancient Indus Valley civilisation with artefacts dating back to 2,500 BC and the art and religion of both Hindu and Buddhist cultures. The Rabindra Bharati Museum celebrates Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore and Bengali culture. Kolkata's most celebrated building, the Victoria Memorial, has an impressive history of the modern city, in chronological order with photographs and well-written synopses of each stage of its evolution from three small villages on the Hooghly River where in 1690 English merchant Job Charnock established a trading post, to Calcutta becoming the most important city in the British Empire, besides London, until the capital of the British Raj was moved to Delhi in 1911.
Kolkata suffered famine in 1943 and the devastating partition of India in 1947. During Indira Ghandi's emergency in the 1970s, permits were needed for the distribution of basics such as cement, steel and diesel, leading to favouritism and abuses of power by the ruling Congress Party, so for the last three decades West Bengal has maintained a freely elected communist government, acclaimed for its transparency when elsewhere corruption often exists.
Downside
The downside is that, at times, taxation reached over 90 per cent. Private entrepreneurship was virtually anathema. With the example of the USSR's break-up and China's more open economic development, taxation is now significantly lower and the Kolkata Government is granting the private sector greater freedom. Indeed, it is the private sector which refurbished the Victoria Monument 10 years ago. Now, Viceroy Lord Curzon's white marble domed palace, built in honour of Queen Victoria and completed in 1921, houses 25 galleries of history, including an Our guided tour also took us to the first parish church in Kolkata, St. John's Church, built in 1787 with a fascinating cemetery. One sees the tomb and monument to Jobus Charnock, who not only founded a trading post, but married a Hindu widow saved from sati. Here also is the memorial to victims of the 'Black Hole' tragedy. When the Nawab of Bengal captured a fort in 1756 on the site of where the impressive General Post Office now stands, over 100 British were imprisoned overnight in an airless cell. Just 23 survived, the rest dying of thirst or asphyxiation, giving rise to the infamous phrase associated with the city. Robert Clive, famous in the history of the British Empire, became Governor of Bengal the following year.
1,000 Places To See
Food vendor on the banks of the River Hooghly. - Laura Tanna photo
In 1,000 Places To See Before You Die, A Traveler's Life List by Patricia Schultz, of the 19 places on the Indian continent, the one in Kolkata is the Marble Palace, now a decaying symbol of the extraordinary wealth enjoyed by Indian rulers or accumulated by merchants given contracts to trade with the British. Rajendra Mullick built a mansion in 1835 to house an eclectic collection of objets d'art he gathered during European travels. Almost 100 varieties of marble are seen, a Reynolds oil painting, a Rubens, sculptures, crystal chandeliers, Ming vases - an astonishing mixture of valuables in two storeys surrounding an open courtyard, so the rain and breeze, the pollution, creep in slowly destroying all. An iron-clad family trust prevents the sale of objects and descendants still live in a portion of the decrepit palace. The gardens, with a small zoo, are not to be missed. With NO PHOTOGRAPHY permitted, I can only tell you to visit the sad and haunting experience of ruined splendour.
A happier, more colourful environment exists at the Jain Temple built by a Marwari, Rai Budreedas Bahadur in 1867. And a walk along the Hooghly River at the newly restored Meen Mangal Ghat allows one to mingle in comfort with residents of Kolkata, while gaining a sense of the river's important role in the city's life, which traditionally included exports of indigo, salt and jute. The Ghat also affords splendid views of the bridges to Howrah on the other river bank.
Independently, we visited New Market, built in 1874, with a multiplicity of market stalls, but the congestion, aggressive touts and beggars were such that, without a guide we fled, hailing a taxi instead to the Forum, Kolkata's equivalent of Sovereign Centre. Built by private sector interests two years ago, this is Kolkata's first modern, air-conditioned shopping mall with restaurants and cinemas. We dined at Oh Calcutta restaurant, though found Bengali food an acquired taste, heavy on mustard oil with an unusual, sweet aftertaste. Most impressive was Parzania, a new film by director Rahul Dholakia based on the horrendous riots in Ahmedabad five years ago. Not being shown in the State of Gujarat because of implications that political activists were used to punish a community where over 1,000 people died, the film is causing a sensation throughout India. Extremely well-acted, if it is ever distributed internationally, see it!
The tram
In addition to old but inexpensive taxis, Jamaicans would appreciate the tram which still runs, a north/south metro, buses and rickshaws, the latter causing controversy over the announced elimination of those pulled by men. Though the work is unhealthy, where will they get jobs instead they ask?
In three days, we only scratched the surface of places this fascinating city offers, but agreed that if one never ventured beyond the doors of the Oberoi Grand, a stay in this historic establishment is worth the visit alone. On famous Chowringhee Road, renamed Jawaharlal Nehru Road, the history of this Kolkata institution is best read in the marvellously well-written book To A Grand Design by Bachi J. Karkaria. Under the excellent eye of General Manager Amitabh Rai, present morning, noon and night to see to his guests' best interests, this oasis of comfort is outstanding and surprisingly reasonable!
Travel agency:
Siddharthtravels@hotmail.com
Hotel:
The Oberoi Grand
www.oberoihotels.com
or Tel: 91 33 2249 2323
Indian Museum, J.L.Nehru Road, Tues-Sun Tel: 91 33 2286 1702
Victoria Memorial, Queen's Way, Tues-Sun, Tel 91 33 2223 5142
Rabindra Bharati Museum, 6/4 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Closed Mon & Thu, Tel: 91 33 2269 6610
St. John's Church, Council House St, daily, Tel: 91 33 2243 6098
Jain Temple
Marble Palace, 46 Muktaram Babu St. Closed Mon & Thu,
Contact Tourism Centre, 91 33 2248 8271
Mother (Theresa's) House, 54A AJC Bose Rd, Fri-Wed, Tel. 91 33 2249 7115
Oh Calcutta Restaurant, 10/3 Elgin Road, 4th floor, The Forum Tel: 2283 7161.
